


The Only Logical Option

by popsicletheduck



Series: East of Heaven Farm and Orchard [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Angst, Broken Bones, Gen, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Haunted Houses, Hurt/Comfort, Logan Whump, Logic | Logan Sanders Angst, Monster of the Week, Rescue Missions, Self-Sacrifice, but like actually haunted, mention of abuse and child death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24058228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popsicletheduck/pseuds/popsicletheduck
Summary: When an ordinary hunt goes wrong, Logan will do what's necessary to save his family. His family will do what's necessary to save him.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton
Series: East of Heaven Farm and Orchard [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715797
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Visit the askblog at [@ts-monster-hunter-au](https://ts-monster-hunter-au.tumblr.com/)!

“C’mon, Lo!” Roman whines from the backseat.

“Absolutely not,” Logan says from the passenger seat. “The last time I let you have the aux cord on a trip you played nothing but Disney and show tunes for the entire five hour drive. I am going to play the playlist we all agreed on so none of us have reason to complain.”

Patton opens the driver’s door and slides into the seat. “Everyone ready for a hunt, kiddos?”

“All of the necessary supplies are in the trunk and the target house’s address has been inputted into Google Maps,” Logan says.

Roman crows, “Let’s go kick some ghost butt!”

Patton is just about to turn the key and shift the car into drive when Virgil steps out of the house, his eyes immediately locking on the the car. In a handful of quick shuffling steps he makes his way across the yard. Patton rolls down the window.

“You just about to head out?” Virgil asks.

Patton smiles. “Yup! We should be back by tomorrow afternoon.”

But the confirmation doesn’t ease the worry in Virgil’s expression. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he admits.

“You have a bad feeling about everything,” Roman teases.

“Do you want to come with us, Virge?” Patton asks.

Virgil hesitates one moment and then another, his eyes scanning the three of them in the car. “No,” he finally says slowly, “Remy needs my help here with the kids. Just... be careful, alright?”

“We will take all necessary precautions,” Logan promises, “and we’ll keep your protection amulets close. If you receive any further information, you are free to contact us at any time.”

Virgil nods and steps back. 

“So long! We’ll see you soon.” Patton waves goodbye as he starts the car. 

Virgil gives them a half smile and a small wave as the window rolls up, but the tension hasn’t left his shoulders. The car rumbles, the music drifts from the speakers, and soon East of Heaven Farm and Orchard is disappearing in the rear view mirror, a figure in a purple and black hoodie standing in the yard, watching them go.


	2. Chapter 2

Logan stares out the front window of the car with his binoculars at the house on the end of the street. He’s aware that their behavior would be highly suspicious should they be caught, but it is currently 2:03 AM and everything is dark and quiet, their car parked just outside the beam of a street lamp. Besides, Patton and Roman are keeping watch.

“I don’t see why I can’t go inside,” Roman whines from the back seat.

Mostly keeping watch.

Patton says levely, “We need someone to watch the back door.”

“It’s a ghost, it can’t leave the house! If this is just because I messed up last time-”

“No, Roman, that’s not-”

“-Because I’m not going to do that again! I know to duck! And Remy said I was fine, mostly, and-”

“-I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I thought-”

“Will you both hush?” Logan snaps. Surprisingly, both of them listen. “If my research is correct, the ghost haunting this house is one Lindsay Richard, murdered by her husband and buried in the backyard for three weeks before the police discovered her body. It’s entirely possible that her ghost can move between the house and the backyard. Therefore, Roman, you’re watching outside while Patton and I search inside. Understood?”

He assumes one or both of them nod, as neither of them say anything. He still hasn’t taken his eyes off the house at the end of the street.

It’s not quite an ostentatiously tacky McMansion, but it wants to be, all cream colored stucco and ridiculous false shutters and strange stone corner tower that was clearly added on after the original building. But its tasteless architecture is not why Logan is watching. His binoculars are trained on one of the upstairs windows and in the back of his mind the whole time he’s been counting.

_ Thirty one minutes… Thirty two minutes.. _

The average person took thirty minutes to fall asleep, then anywhere from ten to twenty five minutes to reach deep sleep. Despite the late hour, the light in the upstairs bedroom window had still been on when they’d arrived. Thirty three minutes ago, it had finally gone out. Since then Logan has been watching and counting and waiting.

“Logan…” Roman says. It’s not a question per say, but Logan knows exactly what he’s asking.

“Not yet.”

Roman draws out a groan, as overly dramatic as always. “Uggh, I’m tired of waiting! C’mon, Patton, Pocket Protector can stay here, let’s go find a ghost!” 

Sword in one hand, shotgun loaded with salt rounds in the other, Roman leaps out the door.

Logan sighs as the car door slams shut. “I suppose we should follow to prevent the fool from doing anything detrimental.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Logan, Roman knows what he’s doing.”

“In this case, that is indeed what worries me. Come on.”

Their footsteps echo too loud against the asphalt in that strange silence that is native only to suburbs in the dead of night. The stars are hidden under layers of smog and light pollution, but the half moon shines like a half lidded eye. Somewhere distant, a car rumbles past. 

It shouldn’t have been as unfamiliar as it was, but Logan could find no connection to this life he’d almost had.

Despite their plan to take the front, Logan and Patton don’t actually go through the front door. PIcking the lock on the front door is always far too suspicious, and front doors are generally the most protected. Side doors, however, are usually neglected. Such is the case here. Patton is no master lock picker, and yet it takes mere moments for him to jimmy the door open. With a nod of thanks, Logan ensures that his own salt loaded shotgun is ready for use and steps inside.

Logan is not good with feelings. He knows some of it must be a trauma response. Some of it is simply how he’s always been. He likes facts and figures and concrete knowledge and the others thankfully don’t always see that as a failing. After all, it’s useful in its own way.

But even considering all that, Logan feels something is wrong the moment he crosses the threshold into the house at the end of the street. Not the passing cold chill of a ghost, but something  _ wrong _ . Something that settles in his stomach and the back of his throat, that crawls across his skin like a thousand spider legs. His heart beats too fast, a pounding in the back of his skull. He makes eye contact with Patton and he knows Patton feels it too.

“I don’t think that’s a ghost,” Patton whispers. In one hand he clutches the protection amulet Virgil had made all of them, while the other grips a salt stained iron dagger Logan didn't see him draw.

“That seems to be a safe assumption.”

“What do you think it is?”

Logan looks around the kitchen, all stainless steel and stark white cabinets glinting unnaturally in what streetlight leaked through the window, and tries to settle the feeling into something he can understand. “Burial ground curse, perhaps?”

Patton shudders. “How could anyone live here?”

“It did stand empty for nearly three years. Beyond that, humans have a remarkable ability to ignore, suppress, and forget. Come on, we have to see if there is any other information to be found. A basement would be ideal, if not, find wherever the feeling is strongest. Stay on alert, we don’t know what might happen.”

They stick close to the walls to decrease the likelihood of a creaking floorboard and walk carefully in the dark. Luckily the house is modern minimalist, everything sleek and sharp edged, hard surfaces and empty spaces, no clutter, just dark wood and stainless steel and white fabric. Normally Logan enjoyed clean organization, but here it just feels… dead. It feels like something is lurking in the shadows. It feels like the darkness is about to swallow him whole. 

Sweat prickles his back even as he shivers. The salt loaded shotgun in his hands feels useless and far too dangerous all at once. The fear is irrational, he tells himself. But it isn’t. He knows that the monsters that lurk in the shadows are real. He knows, he knows, he knows-

_ CRASH!! _

Logan doesn't yelp at the sudden loud noise, because he's an adult now, not a terrified kid.

But he does set off running towards it, because Patton is here and loud noises do not generally mean good things.

He finds Patton down a hallway, an open door next to him on one side and the shattered remains of some contemporary ceramic sculpture on the ground next to him. The feeling is worse here, far worse, creeping out the door alongside the smell of deep earth and chill and Logan knows that door leads to the basement. He also knows the house doesn’t want them going through that door.

Patton looks at him, sheepishly apologetic. He whispers, “I was looking where I was going, I promise-”

“It’s fine,” Logan waves off the apology. He knows it isn’t Patton’s fault. The house is working against them. “But I do think-”

He cuts off abruptly at a sound in the distance. Footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Who’s there?” A voice calls, edged in sleep and anger and fear. “I’m armed!”

They had woken the owner.

Logan turns to go, to leave, to get out of this goddamn house because they can’t do any more investigating now, it’s far too dangerous, but his feet don’t move. Can’t move. He glances down and almost swears he can see something dark twineing around his ankles, tendrils of shadow restraining him. And something clicks into place in his brain. The supposed accidental death of a child and the report of domestic abuse he’d found had taken place in this house hadn’t been symptoms of the murder of Lindsay Richards. All of it is something deeper, something older. Whatever curse lay on this house, whatever dark thing dwells in the basement, it wants blood. And Logan is its current target.

But he will not drag Patton, and Roman too, still presumably waiting outside the back door, down with him.

“Go," he says to Patton.

And Patton understands what it is he’s not saying, pained frustration twisting across his face as he reaches out to grab Logan’s wrist as if he intends to drag him out. "Logan!"

"I'm just going to distract him. I'll be right behind you," Logan lies. Lies easily and without regret because this is the logical choice to save his family and he will not regret that.

Patton searches his face and for a moment Logan is worried he’s seen the truth somewhere in his features. But a light flicks on in the living room, blinding light seeping around corners and beneath doors and there’s no time. Patton lets go, takes one step back and then another. Then turns and runs just as a gunshot cracks from somewhere behind Logan. Luckily the aim is skewed in the dark and misses both of them. But Logan knows his time is up. He tries for once not to compute every possible scenario and instead just to hope that Patton and Roman make it out okay. And that his own death is fast and painless. 

“Drop the weapon!” the man coming down the hall behind him yells, accompanied by the distinctive clack of a gun being cocked. 

Slowly Logan sets his shotgun on the ground, careful to keep his hands in view at all times. 

“On your knees!”

Logan kneels, hands still raised, and waits for the cold press of a gun barrel against the back of his head. His heart pounds. His chest feels too tight. He shuts his eyes.

He thinks about Patton in the sun beneath his apple trees, the boughs heavy with fruit. Roman loudly singing karaoke complete with a dance routine that took him through the entire house. Virgil working side by side with him in the basement, gathering components for a spell as he researched. Remy telling ridiculous stories he swore were true as he stitched them up to take their minds off the pain. The kids trying their best to carefully gather eggs from the coop even as they got excited about the scavenger hunt. His family, safe at their home. It is not, Logan decides, such a bad thing to die for.

Something collides with the back of his head and the darkness takes him.

The gunshot echoes through the house and Patton runs. This house is awful, his kids were in danger, and they had to go. He bursts through the back door and Roman swings his sword into a ready position.

“Where is it?” he asks.

“We gotta go!”

“Where’s Logan?”

Patton turns. Logan had been right behind him, hadn’t he? Logan had said he would be right behind him, Patton had heard his footsteps. But Logan isn’t there.

“He-” 

Patton sticks his head back inside, because Logan had to be there, Logan couldn’t still be in that horrible house. Another bullet cracks the doorframe inches from his head and then Roman is grabbing him and pulling him away.

“We have to go!” Roman is yelling, but the words don’t register the right way in Patton’s head. They can’t go because Logan isn’t here and they can’t leave without Logan. But then Roman yelps as another shot whizzes past and they’re both running, diving into the car as Patton slams it into gear, skidding away across the asphalt.

They’re two streets away, racing through the night when Roman finally speaks. “So, Logan-”

“He’s not dead,” Patton cuts him off.

“Patton,” Roman said carefully, “if he wasn’t there then-”

“He’s not dead!” He can’t be dead. Logan can’t be dead. Patton won’t allow it. “And we’re going back for him. We just need to get some backup first.”


End file.
